—After Vincent Van Gogh’s Chair, Auberge Ravoux,
a photograph by Neil Folberg

Vacant now, Room 5.
Vincent Van Gogh died here,
gut shot, and bleeding out.

His brother, Theo, took out
the easel and the canvas.
The brushes and pigments.

The jars and the thinner.
The stacks of paintings.
The straw hat.

Even now, the tile
spreads in black and white,
holds the table and chair,

where Theo sat for hours,
head, cradled in his arms,
hoping Vincent would rally.

More than a century
later, the chair now sits,
upside down on the table.

This room is not ready.
This room is not for rent.
This room is still too full.

The last burst of colors
that flashed in Vincent’s eyes
spilled on the ground. The tile.

Never got caught on canvas.

Publisher’s Note:

Vincent Van Gogh’s Chair, Auberge Ravoux (black and white photograph, 2003) resides at the VISION Neil Folberg Fine Art Photography Gallery. See also Folberg’s gallery at Artsy dot net.

Gary S. Rosin’s

poetry and haiga have appeared, or are forthcoming, in various magazines and anthologies, including Concho River Review, Harbinger Asylum, KYSO Flash, Lifting the Sky: Southwestern Haiku & Haiga, Texas Poetry Calendar, Untameable City: Poems on the Nature of Houston (Mutabilis Press), The Legal Studies Forum, Visions International, and elsewhere. He is the author of two chapbooks, Standing Inside the Web (Bear House Publishing, 1990) and Fire and Shadows (Legal Studies Forum, 2008) (offprint). His poetry has been nominated for a Pushcart Prize.

Selections of his poetry and photography can be found on his website, 4P Creations: http://4pcreations.com